Why I Created The Gentle + Classical Preschool Curriculum
/I love Classical Education. From the first moment I lay my hands upon the book The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise, I was hooked. I learned as much as I could and fully believe in the proven power of our natural learning in the sequential order of the Grammar, Dialectic (aka Logic), and Rhetoric stages. Even as adults, in our daily lives, as we are introduced to new things, we logically follow these steps. {Click here to read a great metaphor to understand this process a little better.}
This 3 step process applies to all aspects of life and branches of knowledge. Having a teen and tween whom we've used this process with throughout their education, I can see the profound fruits. I desperately wanted my boys to have these same skills, and feel like starting as early as possible would be of excellent value. Because young children have such sponge-like brains, I knew that I could sow a vast amount of information into their little minds- and as they grow, they would be able to retrieve those terms and ideas and apply them as needed. This is the concept of "pegs" unto which future related knowledge can be hung. And this is the value in Memorization (or memory work as it's frequently called).
In the early stages of education, it's extremely valuable to plant these little "terminology seedlings" that can reap a great reward down the road. Children are like little parrots that frequently just repeat back what they've heard time and time again until they have adopted an understanding of the terms they're using. Why wouldn't we take advantage of this natural inclination toward absorption and memorization to help them understand the world around them in a natural yet intentional way? That's what The Gentle + Classical Preschool is all about. And it's an important part of cultivating a preschool experience that you won't regret!
I've designed The Gentle + Classical Preschool to be filled with excellent, SHORT, memory work statements, with simple-to-say words that give you the opportunity for deep exploration into a variety of topics through living books, field trips, or hands-on projects and sensory experiences for your 2-3 year old preschooler (though many 4-5 year olds would also benefit).
But the REAL beauty is that you don't have to do ANY of those additional things. The memory work statements alone can be worked into your day in an organic, gentle way while still reaping all of the benefits I've listed. With two toddlers in my household, I need to keep things SIMPLE. In The Gentle + Classical Preschool , I give you a variety of options for adding to the program with hands-on projects, but I also give you permission, dear Mama, to just plug in the memory work throughout your day. You can even pick and choose just a few pieces of memorization to focus on. You don't have to do it all!
